Survey of Some Gastrointestinal Cestodes and Nematodes from Stray Cats at Baghdad City, Iraq

Abdul-Razzak Labi Al-Rubaie; Furhan Thumad Mhaisen; Abdul-Rahman Aziz Al-Tae

doi:7040279

As stray cats Felis catus Linnaeus, 1758 are known to be of a special public health concern in dispersing, directly or indirectly, some helminth parasites, a total of 254 stray cats were trapped from different sectors of both sides of Baghdad city (Al-Rasafa and Al-Karkh) during the whole year of 1996. Upon cats' dissection, five species of cestodes (Diphyllobothrium latum, Diplopylidium acanthotetra, Dipylidium caninum, Joyeuxiella pasqualei and Hydatigera taeniaeformis) and four nematodes (Toxascaris leonina, Toxocara cati, Physaloptera praeputialis and Pterygodermatites cahirensis) were detected from the small intestine. Only P. praeputialis was detected from the stomach. Among these worms, D. latum is reported in this article for the first time from stray cats in Iraq. No significant differences were noted in the infection of male and female stray cats with any of these worm species. The overall percentage incidence of infection with these worms ranged from 0.4% in case of D. latum to 58.3% in case of J. pasqualei, while the mean intensity ranged from one worm/infected stray cat in case of D. latum to 25.4 worms/infected stray cat in case of D. acanthotetra. Sex ratio (males: females) of all the investigated nematode species was in favour of the females as this ratio ranged from 1:1.1 in case of P. cahirensis to 1:1.6 in case of T. cati. Generally, the percentage incidence and mean intensity of infection with all parasite species (except D. latum) showed a noticeable increase during summer and, to some extent, autumn and spring in comparison with the infection during winter. All the examined cats were infected with at least one worm species and the triple infection showed the highest proportion (35.8%) in this respect. Big stray cats showed higher percentage incidence of infection in comparison with small stray cats with all the worm species, except T. cati in which the percentage incidence of infection of smaller cats was higher than that of the big cats.

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